WideCells increases headcount, continues Manchester development

Stem cell banking and insurance services company WideCells Group posted a corporate update on Monday, on its strategy to make stem cell treatment affordable and accessible and drive innovation and investment to the stem cell industry.

The London-listed firm confirmed it had made additional key personnel appointments across its three core divisions, bringing total headcount - including at its stem cell storage facility in São Paulo - up to 28.

Recent hires include Matthew Lord appointed as group marketing manager, Frances Dutton appointed as group accounting manager, and Damilola Aboyeji appointed as group lab manager.

The firm also explained that work was continuing at the stem cell storage facility currently being developed at the University of Manchester Innovation Centre.

It said it has commenced high specification renovation work on the clean room suite, which includes two high specification clean rooms for processing human cord blood, cord tissue, dental pulp and adipose tissue, to bring it to gold standards.

“We are delighted with the considerable progress we have made towards developing WideCells Group over the past three months,” said CEO João Andrade.

“From the outset, the board established that attracting the best talent would be the cornerstone of successfully delivering on our strategy to revolutionise and innovate the stem cell industry and following a targeted recruitment drive, we are confident that we have secured a highly skilled and experienced team with the requisite skillset to make significant contributions to the group's growth.”

Andrade said the WideCells Institute of Stem Cell Technology will mark a major milestone in the division’s development and as well as providing the company with a substantial revenue stream, it will enable it to undertake in-house research, creating another key differentiator for the enlarged group.

“Having secured a strong team and with the positive progress we have made, I'm looking forward to updating the market with further developments in the coming months.”